WSTA calls on government to halt £1b pubs tax raid

The Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) has found that pubs around the UK are to face a tax raid of £1b over the next five years.

According to figures from the Office of Budget Responsibility, the government plans to increase alcohol duty by over 3% a year for each year of Parliament – a cumulative rise of 18% up to 2022 which could see pub landlords hit with an additional duty bill of £4,374 each.

The increase would push pubs’ duty bill for wine and spirits up by an additional £110m a year by 2022. This means that pubs will have to find an additional £333m a year in duty payments by the end of the Parliament, on top of the nearly £2b a year that already goes to the Treasury.